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The wizards, warlords, Winter Orbs and Whippoorwhills of Magic: The Gathering are returning once again this year in a new downloadable Duels of the Planeswalkers game. This year's instalment, Magic 2014 - Duels of the Planeswalkers, is adding a new platform to its hand, coming to Android as well as PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.

The 2014 iteration will bring 10 new decks, 15 new encounters, 10 new puzzles, and one mysterious new game mode. It'll have a sampling of the cardboard game's 2014 'Core Set' too.

Duels of the Planeswalkers, if you've missed it, is an adaptation of the immensely successful and staggeringly long-running collectible card game. It's faithful and provides enough Magic to scratch the itch of recovering addicts, but doesn't let you create your own decks from scratch. Instead, you unlock decks and extra cards to customise them by beating opponents.

The announcement trailer introduces Chandra Nalaar, one of the five planeswalkers who'll appear in the 2014 Core Set. It's fair to guess we'll see her and the others in DotP, then.

Ubisoft has released a few assorted Might & Magic games since it bought the series from the defunct 3DO in 2003, but the core RPG series that started the whole lot was left fallow. It's back now, though. Ubisoft today announced Might & Magic X Legacy and yes, it's still first-person and turn-based.

Might & Magic X will give you a party of four to adventure around with, battling monsters, delving into dungeons, plundering treasure, disarming traps, and all that classic RPG jazz.

The story follows on from events in Might & Magic Heroes VI, from the turn-based strategy side-series previously known as Heroes of Might & Magic. The city of Karthal is in political turmoil, or somesuch, and apparently "Your actions will determine the fate of the city."

The game will be on show at PAX East this weekend, so hopefully we'll learn more. Trailer!

Today at Blizzard's PAX East panel, the company announced Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft. The collectible card strategy game is Blizzard's first stab at the free-to-play model, allowing players to compete as heroes from nine WoW classes, all set in the Warcraft universe.

Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft

In a series of video demonstrations, Blizzard showed off opening a "pack" of cards, trashing duplicate cards to make a more powerful one, and the deck-building tools. The game will either suggest cards that you might want to put in your deck, or just auto-create a deck by type. Playing one-on-one online battles will boost your medal ranking, which is managed through Battle.net. The game is aiming for a spectator element as well, as Blizzard showed off a game match with shoutcasting commentary.

Blizzard says it will have roughly 300 cards available at launch, among common, rare, epic, and legendary types. Each pack, which can be earned or purchased, will net you five cards. The brief glimpse at game showed an animated board with a battle between a Mage and a Warrior.

It will launch on Windows and Mac first, then iPad shortly thereafter. Blizzard is planning a beta this summer, with a release later this year. If you're attending PAX East, you can play it on PC and iPad this weekend.

The game is being developed by a separate Blizzard team of about 15 members, who are tasked with faster development cycles and experimental games instead of the studio's usual big-budget titles.

You can sign up for the beta and the newly launched official site.

Yet Another Fucking Music Festival takes place during the hottest 3 days this summer at a really inconvenient location. Headliners include That Band All Over The Radio, 2 Dudes & A MacBook, Cute Girl With A Guitar And A Sundress, and The Sellouts. This rather spot-on parody poster is by entertainment, art, and design studio Neat Dude Collective. The poster is available for purchase.

via Laszlo Thoth

Love LOLcats? Who doesn't?! There are so many more over here!

LoL by: loco355

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Which Sir Arthur Conan Doyle tale will inspire the Sherlock season 3 premiere? You know, the episode that’s sure to

The countdown to the final episodes of the 2012-2013 season for many broadcast network shows began last week, as ABC, Fox,

"CSI" has been renewed!

Ted Danson, Elisabeth Shue and original cast members George Eads, Jorja Fox, Eric Szmanda, Paul Guilfoyle and Robert David Hall will all be back for Season 14, CBS has announced. Wallace Langham, Elisabeth Harnois, David Berman and Jon Wellner will also return next season.

“'CSI' is synonymous with CBS, and we are so proud of the series' creative and commercial legacy and its continued success on our Network,” Nina Tassler, president of CBS Entertainment, said in a statement. "The writers and producers have done an amazing job evolving 'CSI,' reinventing the show around an incredible leading man in Ted Danson, the acclaimed Elisabeth Shue and our beloved and talented core of original cast members."

According to Deadline, Danson renewed his contract with "CSI" for two more years so fans of the series could very well also see a Season 15.

The renewal of "CSI" comes as no surprise (the only question was Danson's involvement) since it's long been a ratings juggernaut. In its current season, "CSI" consistently wins in total viewers and in the key 18-49 demographic in its Wednesday at 10 p.m. timeslot.

"CSI" airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on CBS.

Sales histories are history (maybe)

eBay has confessed to The Register that a software bug destroyed the listings of 10,000 merchants in Britain, the US, Germany and Australia.…

meme4u:

http://memeblock.com/

The Kickstarter reboot Carmageddon: Reincarnation is coming to a few more platforms, after Stainless Games privately raised an additional $3.5 million. That will be enough to put it on the PlayStation 4 and next Xbox, but the studio is still negotiating with the platform holders for development kits.

Eurogamer reports that the team doesn't expect the injection of funds to turn it into a blockbuster, as publishing director Jason Garber calls it a "relatively modest budget." He says this will help turn it into a boxed product instead of its prior plans as a downloadable-only game.

It still might not be as "shiny" as a big-budget driving game, but Garber says making it feel right is more important. "What we want to avoid," Garber said, "is the response that happened for the Killzone [4] demonstration at the PS4 [event], where nobody actually clapped but it just looked good."

Adding support for the consoles means adding time to the project, and suggests that it will be ready to show the game in the fall.

With games continuously evolving after release, gamers have become accustomed to frequent title updates and patches. But, what if you could see a game evolve before it's ever officially "released"? That's what Steam plans on offering through its new "Early Access" library of games.

Through the new initiative, you'll be able to buy beta versions of games through Steam. Because the games are incomplete, you'll have the privilege of not only playing the games early, but you'll also "help test and report bugs." You may even have to pay extra to get said right.

Valve is spinning the effort as a way to players to offer feedback as games "grow and evolve with the involvement of customers and the community," adding "this is the way games should be made."

Kickstarter has popularized the notion of pre-purchasing a game that may be nothing more than an idea. "Early Access" on Steam, at the very least, gives players a chance to pay for something far more substantial. By marking games as in-development, Valve can avoid a repeat of The War Z--a game that was "released" on Steam without many of the features it would eventually sport. The confusion caused the title to get pulled, with executive producer Sergey Titov saying "online games are [a] living breathing GAME SERVICE. This is not a boxed product that you buy one time. It's evolving product that will have more and more features and content coming it."

Some of the games participating in Steam's "Early Access" program include Arma 3 ($33, pictured above), StarForge ($20), and 1... 2... 3... KICK IT! Drop That Beat Like an Ugly Baby ($10).

With StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm already bringing out the aggressive nature of the Zerg, Blizzard has started to turn its attention to the final chapter in the trilogy, Legacy of the Void. The theme of that last installment--focused on the Protoss--can probably be best summed up in one word: desperation.

Wings of Liberty focused on "space cowboy" Jim Raynor, and Heart of the Swarm focused on Kerrigan and her "difficult choices," making it the darkest chapter in the series, Game Director Dustin Browder said in an interview with AusGamers. In Legacy of the Void, the Protoss are facing the end of their race.

"Think of it more as Seven Samurai," he said. "This is the Protoss on their last legs, in their final hours, fighting against the darkness that threatens to consume the Universe. And they are the only ones who can stand up to the forces that are arrayed against them. They are the proud few warriors facing the void, facing oblivion on their own, and slowly being picked off one by one. And that's what we're going to try and get across in Legacy of the Void, that real sense of doom, and really give you the sense of what it is like to be this race with those long, and amazing, and glorious traditions, slowly being consumed and snuffed out."

In case you missed it, check out our Heart of the Swarm single-player and multiplayer reviews. We are also running a tips for playing multiplayer all week.

At GTC 2013, Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang outlined a future where "mobile, desktop and supercomputer technologies intersect in powerful and surprising ways".

When you think of virtual note taking, Evernote likely comes to mind.  The service a neat way to take notes on a smartphone and have it sync with your laptop or other devices.  While many people use Evernote and enjoy it, Google is ready to enter the realm of note-taking.  Even though I haven’t used Google Keep extensively yet, I imagine it is definitely worth a shot since it is a Google product.

There is one main caveat associated with the app, which I will get to in a moment.  However, let’s first discuss what makes the app unique and practical.  Some of the main features include creating checklists, creating voice notes, and embedding photos in notes.  A home screen Keep widget can help organize your notes and show what’s most important right on your home screen.  In addition, Google allows for color coding making it very similar to virtual Post-it notes.

The interesting feature about Google Keep is the fact that it is deeply integrated with Drive.  As a result, any notes created on your smartphone can be easily accessed on your tablet or home computer.  Lastly, Keep can be accessed and edited on the web if you don’t own an Android device running 4.0.3 or higher.

Here is the main caveat, Google Keep only runs on Android devices running Android 4.0.3 or higher, which alienates a sizable portion of Android users.  If your Android smartphone or tablet runs ICS or higher, then you are in luck and can install Google Keep right away.

The question that immediately comes to mind is whether Google Keep can dethrone Evernote.  I am not so sure, but it’s great to see Google offer Evernote some competition.

Below is a YouTube video explaining the service in a little more detail and provides a real-life example.

[Google Android Blog]

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There are three main Samsung Galaxy product lines currently available: the Galaxy S, Galaxy Note, and Galaxy Tab.  We already know the 2013 version of the Galaxy S, which is the Galaxy S 4.  Therefore, it is naturally time to turn our attention towards the latter two Galaxy products.

According to an insider providing information for SamMobile, Samsung will use IFA 2013 as a platform to announce the Galaxy Tab 3 and the Galaxy Note III.  IFA is typically held in Berlin towards the end of August, so we have a while to go before both devices become official.

The Samsung Galaxy Note II is wildly popular among many consumers, so I imagine there is quite a faithful following eagerly anticipating the Galaxy Note III.  It is one of the more successful phablets currently available.  Samsung’s reputation for tablets isn’t quite as impressive as it is among smartphones, but the Galaxy Tab 3 should still generate interest.

As always, we’ll keep our eyes peeled for any further developments regarding either the Galaxy Note III or the Galaxy Tab 3.

[SamMobile]

Related Stories

• Samsung will reportedly launch a Galaxy Note with a 5.9 inch display in 2013
• AT&T’s 16GB Galaxy S 4 will cost $199 on contract, while the 32GB model will cost $249
• AT&T: Pre-order your Galaxy S 4 starting April 16 for $249

Universal Truth

Designer Alex Cornell helps you figure out how to choose the best seat, or at least “how not to get stuck next to someone that sucks,” with this helpful infographic.

One of the most complex social situations you will encounter is the 45 seconds that elapse while deciding where to sit for dinner at a restaurant. Your choice should appear natural, unbiased and haphazard if executed properly. Timing is everything.

These 45 seconds determine how enjoyable your next 2 hours will be. Once the pieces start to fall into place and people take their seats, your choices narrow. People sit, seemingly at random, and if you don’t take the appropriate measures, you’re inevitably stuck at the least interesting end of the table.

submitted via Laughing Squid Tips